French GP: Team Aspar race report

First Top 10 and best Rookie for Barbera
The MotoGP World Championship moved to the historic French circuit of Le
Mans for round three this weekend, but it was the Spanish national anthem
that provided the soundtrack to Sunday's podium...

First Top 10 and best Rookie for Barbera

The MotoGP World Championship moved to the historic French circuit of Le
Mans for round three this weekend, but it was the Spanish national anthem
that provided the soundtrack to Sunday's podium ceremonies. The track saw a
similar feat in 2003, with victors from Spain in all three categories. The
premier class was the headline act, and it was Jorge Lorenzo who kept up
national pride with his second consecutive victory. The Fiat Yamaha rider
escaped from Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa -his colleagues on the front
row for the race- at the midway point, but the battle behind him between the
newcomers to the category provided the excitement.

The best rookie on this occasion went to Hector Barbera. The Paginas
Amarillas Aspar rider started from the penultimate grid spot for the French
GP, and didn't have the best of getaways from the line. However, he soon
found himself moving up places and latching onto the top ten group. A racing
incident with Hiroshi Aoyama halted his progress, but did not dampen his
determination. The Spaniard decided to take matters into his own hands and
chase down those in front, eventually bringing his Ducati satellite bike
home in eighth place and collecting his best finish to date on an 800cc
bike.

8th Hector Barbera: "I am very happy and think that the post-Grand Prix test
that we did at Jerez was very important for us. We found a few adjustments
that have really worked out. The team worked very well this weekend; despite
us losing our way a little, they prepared a very good bike for the race. I
was second-to-last on the grid, and my thinking was that only one rider
could overtake me and I had nothing to lose. With this idea in mind, the
goal was to enjoy the race -something that I hadn't yet been able to do. I
discovered early on that the left-handers were difficult for me, as the
tyres didn't have a chance to get up to temperature on that side. I started
to get more confident as the laps progressed, although when I had a light
coming together with Aoyama I lost a few positions. Then I made another
fightback and got up to eighth. I am highly satisfied, because the front end
feeling was finally good for me. I am aware that my over-exuberance in the
first two races stopped me from doing well, but the goal for this race was
to not lose touch of the group ahead. I achieved this and for that reason I
can be happy."